Patrick Peterson Injury: Updates on Cardinals CB's Concussion and Return

Updates from Sunday, Nov. 2

Arizona Cardinals VP of media relations Mark Dalton confirms Patrick Peterson is active for Week 9:

Updates from Friday, Oct. 31

Jon Machota of the Dallas Morning News has an update on Patrick Peterson's status for Sunday:

Updates from Thursday, Oct. 30 

ESPN NFL Nation provides an update on Patrick Peterson's status:

"

Patrick Peterson returns to full practice status http://t.co/zjlcoUee92

— ESPN NFL Nation (@ESPN_NFLNation) October 31, 2014"

Updates from Wednesday, Oct. 29

Head coach Bruce Arians has the latest update on Patrick Peterson ahead of Wednesday's practice via Darren Urban of AZCardinals.com: 

Urban also provides an update and comments from Peterson, who spoke about the injury:  

"

But the cornerback has cleared the concussion protocol — he did it Tuesday — and was back at practice Wednesday as the Cardinals prep for Dallas. He even was going to golf Tuesday after he passed, which his doctor OK’d. His wife, however, did not and Peterson instead took it easy.

“I feel normal,” Peterson said. “It was a scare, but you have to move forward.”

Peterson has upgraded to a new helmet.

 

"

Updates from Monday, Oct. 27

Tom Pelissero of USA Today and Darren Urban of AZCardinals.com passed along updated on Patrick Peterson's status following his concussion on Sunday:

Earlier, Urban provided a synopsis of Cardinals general manager Steve Keim discussing Peterson's recovery on the Doug & Wolf show on Arizona Sports 98.7FM:

Original Text

The Arizona Cardinals have dealt with a number of devastating injuries already this season, but losing Patrick Peterson could end up being the worst loss yet.  

NFL.com's Around the League provided the latest information on the star cornerback:

Around the League later confirmed that Peterson would not return to the game:

In the second quarter, teammate Deone Bucannon appeared to hit Jeremy Maclin, whose helmet then slammed into Peterson. ESPN's Josh Weinfuss spoke with Bucannon about the play:

"

Bucannon said Arizona was playing a Cover 1 and he was in the middle of the zone without any specific responsibility, so when the ball went to Maclin, he converged on the receiver "trying to hit him as hard as I can."

"I didn't realize Pat was back there and I would never ever want to hurt anyone on purpose ever in my life," Bucannon said. "I don't want to take this game that I love from anybody else, and when it happened, especially when I seen Patrick Peterson -- he's very important to this team and very important to me and what we do -- I felt really bad."

"

Peterson thanked his fans for the support via Twitter: 

Peterson, 24, has been one of the best players at his position since being the No. 5 overall pick in the 2011 draft. He was selected to the Pro Bowl in each of his first three seasons in the NFL and was named First-Team All-Pro in 2011 and 2013.

It is no surprise he signed a $70 million contract in July to make him the highest-paid player at his position.

According to ESPN, NFL players ranked him as the No. 2 cornerback in the league behind only Richard Sherman:

Of course, Peterson does not think anyone is better than him. According to Bob Baum of The Associated Press (h/t Yahoo Sports), he was asked about the best cornerback in the league and responded:

"

As a man, I can't fathom putting another guy in front of me. [...]

All of us have the ability to be the best in the league. And all of us are the best at something at the cornerback position. I believe that the competition is real, and I love it. It's just going to make all four of us play that much better and that much harder.

"

Unfortunately, the latest injury could end up being a setback for the defensive superstar.

The Cardinals added depth in the secondary in the offseason by adding Antonio Cromartie, who has experience covering No. 1 receivers. However, the group will be a lot more exposed if Peterson is unable to return soon.

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